Studio Home
Reframed the home architecture around what users actually came to do.
Balanced core workflows, learning, discovery, and future growth into one scalable structure, then rebuilt the concept mid-project when engineering constraints made the first approach untenable.
The 30-second story
Challenge
Rework a welcome screen that had accumulated features without a clear hierarchy, while serving increasingly different user goals.
Key move
Reframed Home around primary actions and user intent, then shifted it to a distinct mode when engineering constraints ruled out the original in-workspace concept.
Validation
Concept testing confirmed the hierarchy, and Early Access feedback highlighted the usefulness of Recent Files without requiring major structural changes.
Result
Shipped to all Studio users in May 2024 with a scalable structure for creating, continuing, learning, and discovery.
Problem
The existing welcome screen had gradually accumulated more features over time, but was never designed to support them as a cohesive experience. As Studio continued to grow, the screen needed to serve increasingly different user goals without a clear structure for prioritizing them.
Design principles
01
Make primary actions immediately clear
Create New and Recent Files should remain the most accessible actions, giving both first-time and returning users a clear place to begin.
02
Support different levels of experience
The home experience should provide different entry points for different needs, from tutorials and official sets for newer users, to recent files and community designs for experienced builders.
03
Build a scalable content structure
Create a flexible structure that could support tutorials, gallery content, official sets, recent work, and future additions without making the home experience feel fragmented.
Process
01
Auditing the existing experience
I reviewed how the welcome screen had evolved and where the existing structure was no longer supporting the product. Primary actions, recent work, Gallery content, tutorials, and supporting resources were competing for limited space without a clear hierarchy.
I mapped the existing content and entry points to identify where the experience was creating confusion, distraction, and inefficient use of space.
02
Prioritizing content by user type
I mapped the needs of different Studio users, including new users, experienced builders, browsers, MOC designers, and instruction creators, to understand which content and actions should be most prominent for each group.
This established a clearer hierarchy across the home experience: primary actions such as creating or continuing work stayed highly visible, while tutorials, Gallery content, official sets, and other resources were prioritized by user need, frequency of use, and relevance.
03
Designing the home architecture
With content priorities defined, I translated them into a new home structure balancing immediate actions with discovery. Create New and Recent Files remained prominent, while tutorials, Gallery content, official sets, and other resources were organized into clear sections that could expand over time.
To inform the layout exploration I reviewed how other creation tools approached home navigation, recent work, and content discovery. I explored multiple layouts and navigation models, then refined the structure through team reviews to improve scannability, reduce visual competition, and support different screen sizes.
04
Iterating with the team
My initial concept treated Home as a layer within the existing Studio workspace. After reviewing the interaction with engineers, we identified technical constraints that made this approach difficult to support reliably.
I worked with the team to redefine Home as a distinct mode, one users could move between alongside the building workspace. The revised structure also introduced a modular content layout, allowing curated resources and new sections to be added over time without redesigning the overall experience.
05
Testing the concept across experience levels
I ran concept testing with internal participants representing different levels of Studio experience, deliberately excluding members of the Studio product team. The sessions focused on whether primary actions were easy to find, how participants interpreted the content hierarchy, and whether the expanded home experience provided useful entry points for different needs.
The findings supported the emphasis on Create New and Recent Files, and confirmed that tutorials, Gallery content, and official sets worked best as secondary paths for learning and discovery.
06
Launching and gathering early feedback
We released the new Home experience through Studio Early Access in March 2024, followed by a two-month feedback period before its full release in May 2024.
Early Access gave community members a chance to use the new experience in the product and share feedback. While the volume of responses was limited, early comments highlighted the improved visibility and usefulness of Recent Files. The experience subsequently launched in the official version without requiring major structural changes.
Outcome
Shipped to all Studio users in May 2024, with no structural changes after Early Access.
The renewed Home experience established a clearer starting point for creating, continuing, learning, and discovering within the product. The new structure made primary actions more visible and created a scalable foundation for curated content and future additions.
Early community feedback highlighted the improved usefulness of Recent Files compared with the previous experience.